Auto Fill User Start Menu with Citrix Receiver 4.x

One of the biggest challenges in a lot of migrations to Citrix Receiver 4.x (and XenDesktop / XenApp 7.x) is the (missing) function to automatically fill the users start menu. In the past it was quite easy to push all published applications for the user into his start menu using the Citrix Receiver Enterprise (aka. Online Plugin). Citrix decided to stop the development of the Citrix Receiver Enterprise and fully switched to the Citrix Receiver.
But how can we now automatically fill the user start menu without any user interaction?

First of all you need to make sure that the Receiver Single-Sign-On is working. If you don’t know how to configure this read the article “Citrix Receiver Single-Sign-On (Pass-through Authentication) does not work with StoreFront”.

Also it is necessary to configure the Receiver automatically with your StoreFront Store. You can either achieve this by creating a GPO (with the Receiver adm) or using another command line parameter (next to /includeSSON for Single-Sign-On). To use a GPO import the Receiver ADM-File into the GPO. You can find the ADM-File on a computer with an installed Receiver in the following path:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\ICA Client\Configuration   (or C:\Program Files\….)

After importing the icaclient.adm you find the following settings inside the GPO:
Computer Configuration => Administrative Templates => Classic Administrative Templates (ADM) => Citrix Receiver => Storefront => Storefront Accounts List

Change the setting to enable and enter the Store (account) details under “Show”.

Enter your StoreFront Store in the following format:
STORE NAME;STOREURL;ON;STORE DESCRIPTION

Alternatively you can add the following parameter to your Receiver-Installation:
STORE0="STORE NAME;STORE URL;On;STORE DESCRIPTION"

The next step is to add the following registry keys under the path HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Dazzle (if it’s a 32Bit-System without Wow6432Node):

The last one (DontWarnOfRemovedResources) is optional – if you activate this a user is not informed if one of his applications is removed.
For adding the keys the following commands can be used:

REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Dazzle /f /v InitialRefreshMinMs /t REG_SZ /d 1
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Dazzle /f /v InitialRefreshMaxMs /t REG_SZ /d 1
REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Dazzle /f /v DontWarnOfRemovedResources /t REG_SZ /d True

Don’t forget to change the path on a 32Bit-System.

Now you need to create a new Shortcut in the Startup Folder. With this Shortcut the Receiver automatically connects to Storefront and receives the subscribed applications of the user after he logged in. For every application a Shortcut is created in the Start Menu. The Shortcut gets the following settings:

Target:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\SelfServicePlugin\SelfService.exe" -logon -poll
Start in:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\SelfServicePlugin\"

If your users now log in not all of their available applications won’t be published to the Start Menu. The reason for this is that the user first needs to subscribe all of his available applications. The good thing is: You can also automate this

Switch to your Delivery Controller and start the Desktop Studio. Now open  “Delivery Groups => Applications” and change the Settings of one Application. You need to change the “Description and keywords”. Either enter
KEYWORDS:mandatory
or enter
KEYWORDS:auto
In this situation both keywords have the same effect – after the user logs on and the SelfService is triggered with –logon and –poll every application is subscribed for the user. Of course only applications with a configured Keyword are subscribed.

The difference between the keywords is that with “auto” the application is only once subscribed – if the user removes it from his applications inside the Receiver it stays removed. If the keyword is “mandatory” the application is subscribed with every user logon. Don’t forget to enter the Keyword for every application which should be automatically published to the Start Menu.

That’s it – now Applications are automatically pushed to the user start menu after he logged in – if anything is unclear feel free to contact me.